Apparatus for continuously producing a rubber coating



Nov. 10, 1964 J. FONTAINE 3,156,600

APPARATUS FOR CONTINUOUSLY PRODUCING A RUBBER COATING Filed July 25, 1960 United States Patent 3,156,600 APPARATUS FOR CONTINUOUSLY PRODUCING A RUBBER CUATING Jacques Fontaine, Paris, France, assignor to Les Tuyaux Flexibles Rudolph, Paris, France Filed July 25, 1960, Ser. No. 45,118 Claims priority, application France July 28, 1959 7 Claims. (Cl. 156-393) In my patent application No. 789,593, now Patent No. 3,066,720, included herein by way of reference, I have revealed a continuously operating apparatus for covering textile articles with at least one layer of a material similar to rubber. This apparatus is characterized in that it comprises a vertical sleeve adapted to receive the said material, means for continuously feeding the said material to the saidsleeve up to a predetermined level, means for causing the textile article to advance upwards from below through the sleeve, means for ensuring sealing at the base of the said sleeve, and means for causing solidification of the said material at a predetermined height in the sleeve.

More particularly, I have revealed two embodiments, one of which is suitable for coating the textile article internally while the other is suitable for coating the textile article externally.

I have now devised a new embodiment suitable more particularly for producing the internal coating. I

This new embodiment, which constitutes an improvement aims mainly at facilitating the regulation of the thickness of the coating; in the former embodiment, this thickness depended on a large number of factors which were to a certain extent inter-dependent, such as the viscosity of the product, the temperature gradients in the direction of advance and in directions transverse thereto, the relative height of the level of coagulation, and the speed of advance of the textile material.

In accordance with the present invention, the level of coagulation is fixed permanently, and the pressure factor no longer has to be used for regulating this level and can be used as a correlating factor for the thickness of the internal coating.

An embodiment of the invention chosen by way of example is described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawing; I do not intend the scope of the invention to be limited to or by the features peculiar to the particular embodiment described and illustrated.

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic view of the device in use, and

FIGURE 2 isa partial section of an example of the device including element 1 and a portion of element 7 and showing the interior construction.

The drawings illustrate the device used for internal coating of a fabric tube as it is woven. Subsequent stages, that is to say external coating which may be effected in certain cases, and dehydration and drying which take place in all cases, are not illustrated and may be assumed to be carried out by the means described in said Patent No. 3,066,720. The references used in FIGURE 1 of the main patent application are repeated, in order to simplify the disclosure.

Thus, 1 represents the mandrel on which the textile reinforcement is woven by means of the circular loom. The mandrel 1 is secured to the frame of the weaving loom; the mandrel is hollow and is provided withan axial passage 9 to which latex is fed, under regulablepressure, through the connector 10 and the ilexiblepipe 11.

In accordance with the invention, the bore 9 of the mandrel is used for accommodating a cylindrical member 100 made of moulded synthetic material, for instance the material known under the name nylon, or any other thermally insulating material.

The lower portion of v this member has the form of a tube constituting a hollow internal sleeve within the mandrel, and is particularly indicated by the reference 101, whereas the upper portion, indicated by the reference numeral 192, is solid and constitutes a blocking means.

Downward movement of this member in the mandrel is stopped by a shoulder 103 in the mandrel. The portions 1631 and 102 of element differ from one another in diameter by an amount equal to twice the thickness of the calibrating tube 104 mounted on the portion 102 and constituting an internal sleeve for guiding the textile article. Only the lower portion of the tube 104 is shown in the drawing. The portion 101 is provided with openings in the form of inclined slots 105 immediately below the portion 102.

A cylindrical joint 106 in the form of a hollow sleeve made of a flexible synthetic material, for instance vinyl chloride, is disposed at the top of the mandrel and extends upwards approximately to the level of the slots 105. This joint is tapered at its top end so as to present a lip 107 which in the drawing is shown at a slight distance from the tube 101; in practical operation, however, this lip is pressed against the outer well of tube 101 by the textile fabric 20 which is shown in FIGURE 1 emerging from the top of the sleeve 7 which is described below, which is continuously drawn upwards as in the main patent. This way of constructing the joint is one of the optional features of the present invention.

A metal sleeve 7 which serves to convey heat surrounds the whole of that part of the apparatus which comprises the end of the mandrel 1, the joint 106 and the tube 104. The sleeve is surrounded by collars such as 8, on which heating resistances are disposed.

The coating material is not shown in elements 11, 1 and 100, as to do so would render the illustration confusing. It will be noted that the coating material flows out of tube 100 through slots 105 to coat and at least partially impregnate the woven material. Above slots 105 the coated fabric slides upwardly over calibrating tube 104.

The sleeve? may be provided with a lifting device (not shown) similar to that described in the patent. The operation of the unit described above is largely the same as in the patent, with the sole difference thatthe latex, supplied under pressure through the tube 11, emerges from the tube at a fixed level, through the slots 165, after having been subjected to re-heating by heating element 8 on the lower portion of the sleeve 7. The latex is brought to the gelling temperature in the zone immediately above the slots.

The regulation of the pressure can thus be adapted to the thickness, within certain limits.

What I claim is:

1. In a machine for lining tubular fabrics internallyenough to permit the fabric to pass between said first sleeve and said second sleeve, said second sleeve being closed at its upper end and provided with passage means near said closed end whereby a liquid lining compound may be laterally discharged, means to introduce a liquid lining compound inside said second sleeve to pass laterally.

through said passage means, and guide means, having a cylindrical elongated formyinternal of and coaxial with respect to said first sleeve, and having an external diam- 3 eter just large enough to permit the lined fabric to pass between said guide means and said first sleeve, said guide means extending from the closed upper end of said second sleeve up to the upper end of said first sleeve.

2. In the machine of claim 1, said passage means being in the form of helical slots.

3. In a machine for constructing and lining a tubular fabric internally by means of a liquid, heat coagulated, lining compound, said machine being of the type including a circular loom to weave a tubular fabric, a vertical hollow mandrel closed at its upper end about which said loom weaves a fabric tube, a heating element in the form of a vertical elongated sleeve having an internal diameter substantially equal to the external diameter of the tubular fabric and provided with heating means above a predetermined level, said sleeve being coaxial relatively to said mandrel and having its lower extremity disposed around the upper extremity of said mandrel, means for continuously pulling the tubular fabric through said sleeve, means to introduce a liquid lining compound inside said mandrel, passage means being provided near the closed extremity of said mandrel whereby said liquid compound is laterally discharged, and guide means, having an elongated cylindrical form, internal of and coaxial with said sleeve, and having an external diameter just large enough to permit the lined fabric to pass between said guide means and said first sleeve, said guide means extending from the closed upper end of said mandrel up to the upper end of said first sleeve.

4. In the machine of claim 3, said passage means being in the form of helical slots.

5. In a machine for constructing and internally lining a tubular fabric by means of a liquid lining compound, said machine being of the type including a circular loom, a vertical hollow mandrel, said loom weaving warp threads and weft threads about said mandrel to form a fabric tube, a heating element in the form of a first vertical elongated sleeve having an internal diameter substantially equal to the external diameter of the tubular fabric and provided with heating means above a predetermined level, said sleeve being coaxial with said mandrel and having its lower extremity around the upper extremity of said mandrel, means for continuously pulling the tubular fabric through said sleeve, means to introduce a liquid lining compound inside of said mandrel, a second sleeve prolongating said mandrel inside of said first sleeve under said level and having an external diameter just sufficient to permit the lined fabric to pass between said first sleeve and said second sleeve, said second sleeve being closed at its upper end and provided with passage means near said closed end whereby the liquid lining compound is discharged laterally against the inner side of the fabric tube, and guide means, having an elongated cylindrical form, within and coaxial relatively to said first sleeve, and having an external diameter just large enough to permit the lined fabric to pass between said guide means and said first sleeve, said guide means etxending from the closed upper end of said second sleeve up to the upper extremity of said first sleeve.

6. In a machine as claimed in claim 5, the provision of a third sleeve of flexible material prolongating said mandrel and fitting said second sleeve closely and extending upwards to a level below said passage means, the upper extremity of said third sleeve being lipped to press against the inner surface of the tubular fabric whereby tightness is insured at the bottom of said first sleeve.

7. In the machine of claim 5, said passage means being in the form of helical slots.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,949,476 Kennedy Mar. 6, 1934 2,460,480 Wolff Feb. 1, 1949 2,709,453 Balis May 31, 1955 

1. IN A MACHINE FOR LINING TUBULAR FABRICS INTERNALLY BY MEANS OF A LIQUID LINING COMPOUND, COMPRISING A VERTICAL ELONGATED SLEEVE HAVING AN INTERNAL DIAMETER SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL TO THE EXTERNAL DIAMETER OF THE TUBULAR FABRIC, AND PROVIDED WITH A HEATING MEANS ABOVE A PREDETERMINED LEVEL, MEANS FOR CONTINUOUSLY PULLING SAID TUBULAR FABRIC THROUGH SAID SLEEVE, THE PROVISION OF A SECOND SLEEVE WITHIN AND COAXIAL RELATIVELY TO SAID FIRST ELONGATED SLEEVE PENETRATING INTO THE LOWER PART OF SAID FIRST SLEEVE BELOW SAID LEVEL, AND HAVING AN EXTERNAL DIAMETER JUST LARGE ENOUGH TO PERMIT THE FABRIC TO PASS BETWEEN SAID FIRST SLEEVE AND SAID SECOND SLEEVE, SAID SECOND SLEEVE BEING CLOSED AT ITS UPPER END AND PROVIDED WITH PASSAGE MEANS NEAR SAID CLOSED END WHEREBY A LIQUID LINING COMPOUND MAY BE LATERALLY DISCHARGED, MEANS TO INTRODUCE A LIQUID LINING COMPOUND INSIDE SAID SECOND SLEEVE TO PASS LATERALLY THROUGH SAID PASSAGE MEANS, AND GUIDE MEANS, HAVING A CYLINDRICAL ELONGATED FORM, INTERNAL OF AND COAXIAL WITH RESPECT TO SAID FIRST SLEEVE, ANS HAVING AN EXTERNAL DIAMETER JUST LARGE ENOUTH TO PERMIT THE LINED FABRIC TO PASS BETWEEN SAID GUIDE MEANS AND SAID FIRST SLEEVE, SAID GUIDE MEANS EXTENDING FROM THE CLOSED UPPER END OF SAID SECOND SLEEVE UP TO THE UPPER END OF SAID FIRST SLEEVE. 